


The Adventure's Only Just Begun

by RoseByAnyOtherName (badxwolfxrising)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 08:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8570941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badxwolfxrising/pseuds/RoseByAnyOtherName
Summary: This piece is a commission for another fan.





	

I first noticed him in the aisle with the pasta and beans because he was dressed awfully nice to be shopping in the tiny little grocery store where my roommates had sent me on a food run. He was handsome, wearing a long, expensive looking coat over top of a smart, slimcut brown and blue pinstriped suit, carefully styled hair and a pair of square, tortoiseshell nerd glasses. He sort of looked like a stockbroker, or maybe even a young professor, but definitely not the sort of person who normally shopped at the Save-N-Go. He was a few customers behind me at the deli counter, and then rifling through the frozen vegetables when I went to grab a frozen pizza. I didn’t start to suspect I was being followed until I went to put the gallon jug of milk in my cart and he was standing right there.

 

“Um, can I help you with something?” I asked, not bothering to mask the irritation in my voice. Every woman, on at least one occasion, has experienced the same, being followed by some weirdo who usually says something creepy or inappropriate when confronted. What I wasn’t expecting was what he did next.

 

“I believe this belongs to you,” he replied, pressing something small into my hand.

 

I looked down at the the object in confusion, gasping when I finally realized what it was. It’d been almost a year since I’d lost the ring one of my best friends had given me, when it had been stolen out of my locker during a yoga class. But that had been ages ago, and I never thought I’d see it again. “Where did you find this? How’d you know it was mine?”

 

The stranger raised his left eyebrow and gave me a half-smile and a shrug before he turned the opposite direction and started walking away. Groceries forgotten, I followed after him. “Hey, I’m talking to you! Where the hell did you find this?”

 

“I borrowed it,” he answered, not bothering to look back at me. “And now, I’m returning it.”

 

“Borrowed it? I don’t understand,” I said, throwing my hands up in exasperation. “What could you possibly need with a cheap old friendship ring? And why are you giving it back to me now, of all the times?”

 

“You’re making a scene.”

 

“Because I want answers!”

 

“Look,” he said, grabbing me by the arm and guiding me down the hallway where the public restrooms were. “It’s complicated, you wouldn’t understand. I borrowed it, I’m returning it, and I’m sorry. That’s all you really need to know.”

 

“So you stole my ring, you bring it back, and you don’t want me to ask questions? Not freakin’ likely,” I snorted.

 

“I didn’t steal it, I borrowed it,” he repeated.

 

“Yeah, well you did it without asking, and in my book that’s stealing, not borrowing,” I said, hands on my hips. “What would a guy need with a girl’s ring anyway?”

 

“Honestly? You wouldn’t believe the truth if I told you.”

 

“Try me.”

 

“A part of my TA-er, vehicle, a part of my vehicle broke, and I needed to use the crystal in the ring as a temporary replacement. I found the replacement a while ago, but tracking you down to give the ring back took longer than I anticipated. Satisfied?”

 

“Not really. How’d you know where to find me?” I asked. I’m nothing if not persistent.

 

“I have my sources,” he replied cryptically.

 

“Look James Bond, the suave British accent might work on some of the other girls, but you’re not blowing me off.”

 

The corners of his mouth tugged up into a smile. “You sound like an old friend of mine.”

 

“Did you steal her jewelry too?”

 

He chuckled. “Your name wouldn’t happen to be Donna would it?”

 

“You’re the secret agent apparently, you tell me.”

 

“Fine, you’ve worn me down. You want the truth? Follow me.”

 

Don’t ask me why but I did follow him, throwing all caution to the wind and ignoring everything I’d ever been taught about stranger danger (sorry mom). As weird as he was, there was something magnetic about the strange man, and I was curious for some REAL answers. Luckily, it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.

 

“Do you make a habit of hanging out by dumpsters?” I asked doubtfully as he lead me around to the very back of the parking lot where the trash and the loading docks were.

 

“I hang out in all sorts of places. Just wait, you’ll see,” he answered over his shoulder. We skirted around the dumpsters and back to the chain link fence around the parking lot. After struggling through a gap in the fence, we came to stop in front of a giant blue box.

 

“What’s a police public call box?” I asked, more confused than I had been before our little excursion.

 

“Back in the 1950s and 60s, they had these boxes all around London. If you needed help, you could open the little door and phone the police. Sometimes, officers would even use the police boxes as holding areas for criminals until they could get back up to come pick them up.”

 

“So what the heck is one of these doing in Utah?”

 

The stranger smiled, and nudged the door open. “Have a look.”

 

Against my better judgment, I did as he told me to and I’m surprised I didn’t dislocate my jaw, it dropped open so far. “What the...but it’s...how? It’s bigger on the inside!”

 

“Welcome to the TARDIS,” he replied, pushing past me. “That’s Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, in case you were wondering. This is my ‘vehicle’. It’s no Ferrari, but it gets the job done, I think, especially if you need to travel through both time and space. And that little ring of yours? It’s made of moonstone, which is the perfect material to use to conduct artron energy if you’re in a pinch, which I was when I ‘borrowed’ it from you. Sorry, are you okay? You look a little pale.”

 

“I’m just in shock, I think,” I mumbled in response.

 

“Ah, yes, common response to the TARDIS, it’s a bit much to take in for most people. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction. I guess there’s no sense in secrets now. I’m the Doctor, and you are…?”

 

“Elizabeth,” I replied faintly, my brain still trying to process what I was seeing.

 

“Elizabeth! That’s a great name. I had a friend named Elizabeth once, brilliant woman, she went by Liz. I also accidentally married Queen Elizabeth once, but that’s kind of a long story. So! Fancy a trip, Elizabeth?”

 

“To where?” I asked, turning to look at him.

 

His face lit up like a kid on Christmas. “All of time and space; everywhere and anywhere; every star that ever was. Where do you want to start?”

 

* * * * *

 

I learned rather quickly that the Doctor was just as reckless as he was charming. It was only our second trip into the future when he almost got us both killed. Apparently, wearing brown and blue together is extremely offensive on some planets. Who knew?

 

“Remember when you asked me if I spent a lot of time hanging out around dumpsters? Well, I spend a lot more time hiding in closets, if you must know the truth,” the Doctor whispered, his breath warm on my face. It was a REALLY tiny closet, and we were crammed into it like sardines in a tin.

 

“Is that the sonic screwdriver in your pants pocket?”

 

“Erm, no,” he answered, and I knew just by the sound of his voice that he was blushing as he said it.

 

“Really?” I hissed back. “Here? Now? We aren’t even the same species!”

 

“Look, I may be an alien, but I’m still a bloke, and I’m trapped in a closet, pressed up against a beautiful woman. These things happen,” he replied indignantly. “Anyway, keep your voice down, we don’t want the Qyreth to find us, they’ve got some of the strongest prison cells in this galactic vector.”

 

My voice caught in my throat. “You...you think I’m beautiful?”

 

“Of course I do. I think the real question though is why do you sound so surprised to hear it?” he murmured, his fingertips ghosting down my arm.

 

As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words, so of course I kissed him, and well..one kiss lead to another, and another, and by the time it was safe for us to sneak out and make a run for the TARDIS, that closet felt like a sauna. But holding his hand as we ran down the hallway to freedom, I knew that our greatest adventure had only just begun.


End file.
